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Former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, far right, poses for a photo with new Land Commissioner George P. Bush, center, and others at the Capitol in January. (Credit: David Valdez/George P. Bush Campaign)

AUSTIN – Former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson is chiding his successor, George P. Bush, for failing to better defend the agency’s practices, after the state auditor’s office dinged the General Land Office this week for its contacting procedures.

“I can’t speak to the motive of the current Commissioner for apparently endeavouring to drop his predecessor ‘in the grease,’” Patterson said in an email this week. “But I would suggest he put more focus on doing his job and less on covering his derriere.”

The spat between the two high-profile Republicans was first reported Wednesday by Quorum Report. And it marks a notable hiccup for Bush, a young political star whose father, Jeb, is among the top contenders in the 2016 presidential race.

Patterson’s critique came after the auditor cited the General Land Office for “significant weakness” in its contracting processes. The report, which raised questions about the office’s handling of hefty deals, looked at three contracts from Patterson’s tenure.

And the General Land Office, which Bush took over in January, said this week that it was already working to address those issues.

“Upon taking office Commissioner Bush implemented an interim procurement and contracting process that has already addressed a number of the findings,” Bryan Preston, an agency spokesman, said in a statement to the Texas Tribune.

Patterson said he had no real beef with the state auditor’s office – or the audit itself. But looking at a contract with Grant Thornton to perform oil and gas royalty audits, he said the current land office regime should’ve done more to defend that arrangement.

“An audit should be a two way endeavor where both the auditor and audit subject are engaged in the process,” he wrote. “It is the responsibility of the agency to provide the rationale for certain decisions when the auditor finds an apparent discrepancy.”

The audit said the agency should’ve looked at alternatives to paying Grant Thornton $1 million to do the oil and gas royalty audits. The agency could’ve, for instance, instead hired four full-time employees to do that at an annual cost of $428,000.

But Patterson said that simple math doesn’t take into account other factors.

The Grant Thornton audits found more than $4 million in “additional unrealized royalty income,” he wrote. After completing the audit, Grant Thornton cut their price to do additional audits since they already had the personnel in place, he said

And hiring four additional land office employees would’ve also meant figuring out what to do with them after the audits were complete, Patterson argued.

“Is that a good idea to fire people when they’re done or to instead find work for them to do when you don’t really need them anymore?” he wrote. “Would that option enhance employee morale or employee productivity?”

The Land Office declined to respond directly to Patterson’s comments.

“We’re moving forward with the reforms that Commissioner Bush has initiated,” said Preston, the agency spokesman.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush speaks to the Texas State Society over breakfast at the U.S. Capitol on July 16, 2015. (staff/Todd J. Gillman)

update 11am

A spokesman for George H.W. Bush, Jim McGrath, says he remains hospitalized “in fair condition at Maine Medical Center in Portland following a fall yesterday at his home in Kennebunkport in which he fractured his C2 vertebrae. The president never lost consciousness, and the injury he sustained neither impinged on his spine nor resulted in any neurological deficits. He continues to have normal use of his limbs.

“The plan is to let this injury heal on its own without surgery. President Bush will remain at Maine Medical Center to be fitted for a brace to immobilize the injured area, to continue physical therapy, and for further evaluation. We do not discuss timelines for discharge, but do not believe this will be a prolonged recovery period at MMC.”

updated 8:15am with comments about Cruz and Trump.

WASHINGTON – Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said this morning that his grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, is doing well after a fall that snapped a neck bone.

The elder Bush was hospitalized on Wednesday after falling and breaking a vertebrae.

“He’s recovering well. He’s every bit of 91,” George P. Bush told members of the Texas State Society over breakfast at the U.S. Capitol.

He added that he’d called his grandmother, former first lady Barbaraa Bush, and she told him that “ ‘a slip-and-fall is not going to take out a Navy aviator from World War II.’ He is still planning on jumping out of a plane at age 95. He’s going to get there whether we like it or not.”

George P. Bush’s father is Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor.

The younger Bush joined the chorus of Republicans denouncing comments by billionaire Donald Trump – who has zoomed past Jeb Bush in the most recent nationwide polls – suggesting that Mexico encourages illegal immigration, and depicting those immigrants as killers and rapists.

“This is me answering as George P. Bush: the rhetoric doesn’t have a place in the Republican Party. I think most Republicans recognize that,” Bush said when asked about Trump’s comments after the breakfast.

He then took an apparent swipe at one of his dad’s rivals for the 2016 nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz. Cruz has been conspicuous in his defense of Trump, saying repeatedly that he salutes and admires Trump for highlighting the issue of illegal immigration, even if he wouldn’t have used the same language.

Bush scoffed at the idea that such offensive comments are necessary to raise awareness on a topic that isn’t exactly out of the national consciousness.

“It’s easy to highlight the huge complicated problem of immigration,” he said. “In Texas we’re footing the bill on a daily basis to secure the border. We don’t need to be told that there’s a problem. Everybody understands that. But it’s time for leadership to actually solve that.”

WASHINGTON — The spat between Sen. Ted Cruz and GOP strategist Karl Rove escalated late Sunday, with Cruz dusting off an email exchange from 2009 to refute Rove’s denial of claims in his forthcoming book.

“I never imagined that his response would be a straight-out falsehood. It’s disappointing; this is why people are so cynical about politics, because too many people are willing to lie,” Cruz said in a statement issued by his campaign.

Cruz asserted in his book that Rove was angry that he’d secured a donation and endorsement from former President George H.W. Bush, and that Rove said Bush’s advanced age made his judgment unreliable. The emails Cruz released don’t support the ageism allegation. But they do show Rove explicitly saying the endorsement would anger Bush library donors and supporters of state Rep. Dan Branch, who was also angling to replace Abbott, something Rove denied earlier today.

“[The] distress you mention is not mine or 43 — it is the people raising money for the library who are also Branch fans and will not understand why one part of the Bush family is for not-the-guy while they are raising money big bucks for library,” Rove wrote in the email released by Cruz.

In Cruz’s forthcoming book, A Time for Truth, set for publication on Tuesday, he recounts a tense confrontation in which Rove bullied him into burying an endorsement from George H.W. Bush amid concerns that would alienate donors to the George W. Bush library in Dallas.

Rove, in Cruz’s telling, also called Bush “too old” to exercise sound political judgment in such matters – an assertion bound to stir consternation in the tight knit family hoping to elect its third president next year.

Sunday afternoon, Rove issued a stern denial, saying he never questioning the mental faculties of a president he has revered for decades. He said his concern about the endorsement was that Greg Abbott hadn’t yet announced whether he would seek re-election as attorney general.

“My call to Mr. Cruz apparently didn’t offend him back then because he continued seeking my counsel about his political ambitions, specifically his 2012 bid for the U.S. Senate,” Rove said. “One piece of advice I offered was that he should stop describing himself as the `next Marco Rubio,’ since he did not have Senator Rubio’s outstanding legislative record of accomplishments as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.” (Full statement below.)

The run-in took place during Cruz’s short-lived campaign for state attorney general in 2009. George P. Bush – son of Jeb Bush, and now the Texas land commissioner –offered to introduce him to his grandfather, who turned 91 this month.

Cruz flew to the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. He ended up hitting it off with the 41st president. He scored an afternoon on the boat with him and Barbara Bush with a stop for lobster rolls along the coast. Bush lent him some clothes so he wouldn’t have to wear his suit – including jeans and a belt buckle that read “President of the United States.”

Cruz called it “surreal” to be wearing Bush’s clothes.

He returned to Houston with a $1,000 donation and an endorsement.

Rove – George W. Bush’s longtime consigliore — heard about the meeting and called Cruz, livid.

“He was irate, demanding, ‘What in the hell do you think you are doing?!’” the senator writes. “Texas donors were giving the Bushes tens of millions, including major donors who were supporting the Dallas state rep who wanted to run for attorney general” – Cruz doesn’t name him, but was referring to Dan Branch – and those donors “were now berating Karl.”

Then, in a passage that could – intentionally or not — sow divisions in the Bush orbit, Cruz asserts that Rove denigrated the aging Bush’s mental capacity.

“He suggested that the elder Bush was too old to have good judgment anymore,” Cruz writes. “I was offended by that characterization and knew from my visit with 41 that it wasn’t remotely true.”

Rove demanded that Cruz return the check, but it had already been cashed. Cruz did give into pressure to keep quiet about Bush’s support, though.

“He implied that if I made any news about Bush 41’s support, then Bush 43 would endorse my opponent,” Cruz writes. That stung, given the four years he’d devoted to electing and then serving the president. He wasn’t sure if Rove had the authority to make such threats on behalf of the Bushes, but “the last thing I wanted to do in running a fledgling campaign in Texas was to get on the wrong side of Rove and the second President Bush.”

Within hours, Cruz had received an approved draft of an endorsement from the elder Bush’s office. In the face of Rove’s objections, he told campaign aides to “throw it in the trash.”

“We didn’t want to anger Karl or 43. The former president’s office said he understood,” Cruz writes.

The bid for attorney general fizzled when Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison backed away from public avowals to step down early, win or lose, after challenging Rick Perry for governor in the 2010 primary. Cruz turned his sights to winning her seat when her term ended in 2012.

Rove later tried to talk him out of that race, urging him to take the easier path in 2012 and run for attorney general, rather than challenging the establishment favorite, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appears at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 27. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

with reporting from Gromer Jeffers Jr.

WASHINGTON – Jeb Bush will be scooping up campaign cash Thursday in Dallas and Houston – homes to the last two Republican presidents, who happen to be his brother and dad.

It’s unclear if either will make an appearance.

The evening reception in Dallas will be at the home of investor John Tolleson and his wife, Debbie, according to an invitation obtained by The Dallas Morning News. Local GOP sources say they expect Jeb’s wife, Columba Bush, to attend.

A ticket for either event is $2,700, the maximum allowed per individual for a single election.

Bush campaign aides wouldn’t provide details, other than to confirm the two Texas appearances. “As policy, we don’t detail those events. They are closed to the press,” an aide said.

Jeb Bush’s son George P. Bush, the Texas land commissioner, is also listed. So is Don Evans, the Midland oilman who served as George W. Bush’s 2000 campaign chairman and Commerce secretary.

Among Texas GOP voters, Bush is presumed to lag behind Sen. Ted Cruz and former Gov. Rick Perry. But the Midland-born Bush has access to a network of longtime family loyalists and donors. His son is now also a proven statewide vote-getter and surrogate.

Ahead of Bush’s visit, the Texas and Florida Democratic Parties have prepared an unflattering chart, comparing his record as governor in Florida to Perry’s in Texas and calling them both “a failed GOP governor who wants to take us backwards.”

“No matter who wins the contest to be America’s worst former Governor, the voters lose. After the disastrous legacy that each governor has left behind, it’s clear that neither of these men is fit to be President,” said Florida Democratic chairwoman Allison Tant and Texas Democratic chairman Gilberto Hinojosa in a joint statement.

The governor was not the only top official sending out April Fools jokes.

Land Commissioner George P. Bush’s press shop sent out a purported letter from the boss saying he would no longer abide by the typeface Comic Sans on any commission correspondence.

The faux press release reads in part:

“The use of Comic Sans in any state of Texas business is an aesthetic tragedy of the highest degree,” said GLO Publications Director Chris Elam. “Texans who conduct business with the GLO can be confident that their eyesight will no longer be assaulted by this unsophisticated font choice.”

The clincher, tho, was the fall-back, emergency advice.

“GLO employees have been advised that the Publications Division staff is on standby to assist with any typeface emergencies within the agency. “Current agencywide substitute font recommendations are Helvetica, Times New Roman, or even Arial,” Elam said. “Any of the standard ones really. Except Papyrus. It’s terribad.”

George P. Bush, left, takes the oath of office as Texas' 28th land commissioner Friday from U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater of Dallas, for whom he was a law clerk. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, second from left, looks on as George P. Bush's wife, Amanda Williams, holds a Bible.

George P. Bush took office as state land commissioner in a low-key ceremony at the Texas Capitol on Friday.

As his father, likely GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush, looked on, the younger Bush said he wants “to practice the politics of aspiration,” which he defined as offering hope and unity, not fear and division.

Last November, he crushed former El Paso Mayor John Cook, a Democrat, to win the office, which manages Texas’ vast land holdings and oversees coastline protection and veterans’ programs.

State Supreme Court justice Don Willett, who served as master of ceremonies, said that while the younger Bush descends from “one of the most revered families in American history,” he is “the only Bush to have won his first election.”

His late great grandfather, Connecticut banker and former U.S. Sen. Prescott Bush, lost in his first bid for the Senate in 1950. Prescott Bush’s son, former President George H.W. Bush, likewise lost his debut race for the Senate against Texas Democratic incumbent Ralph Yarborough in 1964.

Former President George W. Bush, the uncle of the new land commissioner, lost a maiden political race, for Congress, in 1978. And Jeb Bush lost his initial bid for Florida governor in 1994, though he won two terms after that, Willett noted.

George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, hoped to attend their grandson’s swearing in, Willett said. The elder Bushes, though, decided to remain in Houston and watch the ceremony via the streaming internet video, said aides to the new land commissioner.

In remarks to more than 100 guests in the Senate chamber, he spoke briefly of his hopes to improve returns on state mineral and land leases, which benefit public school students. He also vowed to protect natural resources, do right by military veterans and be a good custodian of the Alamo.

“Texas isn’t just some random place on the map that you can point your finger to,” he said. “It’s an idea — that you’re not defined by race or by creed, but rather by what we believe in, … that people can go as far and as fast as their dreams can take them, … that government should work for us, not against us.”

Bush, whose mother Columba was originally from Mexico, spoke several sentences in Spanish. He cited Texas heroes such as Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin but took pains to mention ones “no less important,” such as José Antonio Navarro, a Tejano who served as a leader in the Texas Revolution.

Bush, 38, is a lawyer, Naval Reserve officer and real estate investor. He and his wife Amanda Williams, also a lawyer, live in Fort Worth with their 1 year old son, Prescott. They are expecting a second child in April.

Neither George P. Bush nor Jeb Bush spoke with reporters. On Wednesday, aides to the younger Bush said no news media representatives would be allowed to attend his swearing in. That changed when George H.W. Bush, recently hospitalized, cancelled.

George P. Bush replaces three-term Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, also a Republican.

Patterson, who lost a primary race for lieutenant governor last year, said he would not have yielded the office had he not expected some capable person would step up and run for it.

Two years ago, though, Patterson said Bush visited him. The two met for several hours, and Bush showed a keen interest in the office and its workings, Patterson said.

George P. Bush spoke in Washington on Tuesday to mark the 69th anniversary of V-J Day.

WASHINGTON – George Prescott Bush – grandson and nephew of presidents, and statewide candidate in Texas — spoke Tuesday at the National World War II Memorial, at a ceremony marking the 69th anniversary of V-J Day, when the war ended in the Pacific.

Tuesday also marked 70 years since Bush’s grandfather, George H.W. Bush, was shot down near Chichijima, a small island about 600 miles from mainland Japan.

The naval aviator and future president bailed out of his Grumman TBF Avenger bomber, and waited on a life raft for four hours before being rescued. One of his crew members died during the attack.

His grandson – the GOP nominee for land commissioner — praised the heroism of his grandfather and other veterans. Standing in front of the 100-person crowd on a hot, cloudless morning, he referred to them as part of the “greatest generation.”

“Your example, your selflessness, your undying love of country that led you to the valley of war and destruction, will remain an inspiration,” George P. Bush said.

Bush is a lawyer, investor, and Naval Reserve Officer. He spent eight months in Afghanistan in 2010 as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.

He noted that the aircraft carrier named for his grandfather is in the Middle East, carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Bush said he was proud of the ship’s role.

“The USS George H.W. Bush is today in an area of hostilities and is saving the lives of innocent families,” he said. “Her crew continues to draw upon the inspiration of her ship’s namesake.”

The eldest Bush, who is 90, did not attend the ceremony. After the speech, George P. Bush said his grandfather is in good health, and “staying busy and giving his grandkids a hard time.”

Bush returned to Texas shortly after the ceremony to resume his campaign.

A victory would prolong the Bush dynasty. George P. is the son of Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, and nephew of George W. Bush, a Texas governor and the 43d president.

“It’s coming along,” Bush said of the campaign against Democratic nominee John Cook, the former mayor of El Paso. “We’re working hard but this is a great break from the trail, to honor our country’s greatest generation and to honor our veterans.”

And what does his grandfather think of his first push into politics?

“He’s proud. I think he’s happy that some of us have chosen public service,” Bush said. “It’s really just a part of his legacy that folks from his own family have decided to pursue serving our country.”

The ceremony featured the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Band, and a presentation of memorial wreaths to honor those who were killed in action.

Former President George H.W. Bush, center, and former Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens pose with former first lady Barbara Bush before an NCAA college baseball game at Minute Maid Park in Houston on March 1. The University of Houston Cougars lost 3-2 to the University of Texas Longhorns.

WASHINGTON — The Bush dynasty may make another run for the White House.

Matriarch Barbara Bush — first lady to one president and mother of a second – sounds like she’s warming to the idea of seeing another son, Jeb Bush, seek the White House, after long resisting.

“Maybe Jeb’s given all he should give, because he’s worked awfully hard for a long time,” she told FOX & Friends in an interview from Houston. “But he is the best qualified person in the country, there’s no question about it. Just put me down as saying that.”

Bush called it hard to endure criticism of the presidents in her life, George H.W. Bush and their son. George W. Bush.

“I’m very proud of George W. I think he did what he thought was right, whether it was politically astute or not. I’m more proud of my husband, because he did what he knew was right. And he knew he would lose the election,” she said.

As for Jeb Bush –a former Florida governor and father of the Texas Republicans’ newly-minted nominee for land commissioner, George P. Bush — Barbara Bush sounded resigned or even a bit enthusiastic to the possibility he’ll run for president in 2016.

“I say in this country, which is such a great country, there are more than three families. Then I read that ‘The Bully Pulpit’ by Doris Kearns Goodwin,” she said. “She points out that in 1700, there were only three families. So maybe it’s OK. It just seems to me ridiculous in a country this size that we didn’t have other families. I mean we’ve got great governors…other people. I just don’t understand it. And maybe Jeb’s given all he should give, because he’s worked awfully hard for a long time. But he is the best qualified person in the country, there’s no question about it.”

Click here for the video, and scroll to the 3:50 mark for her take on a Jeb Bush campaign.

George P. Bush, right, stands with his uncle, former President George W. Bush

WASHINGTON —Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., is resigning today after pleading guilty to cocaine possession, and not all of his campaign donors have buyer’s remorse — including a political action committee led by George P. Bush, a GOP candidate for Texas land commissioner.

Bush — the nephew and grandson of presidents — co-chaired Maverick PAC at the time it donated $2,500 to the Radel campaign a week before Election Day in 2012. He stepped down after announcing his bid for land commissioner last Nov. 19, according to Jay Zeidman, who co-chaired the group with Bush and continues to lead it.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing to see what’s taken place with Trey as of today, but back then, we were really happy to support the next generation of rising leaders in the party,” said Zeidman.

He added that the group wanted to help Radel win his House seat, does not regret the donation and will not ask for a refund.

Bush and Zeidman took over Maverick PAC in 2009 and expanded it nationally to include 20 chapters, eight in Florida and four in Texas, with the goal of electing more young conservatives.

Bush grew up in Florida, where his father, Jeb Bush, served as governor.

Radel pleaded guilty in November after he purchased cocaine from a federal agent in Washington. He spent a month in a rehabilitation clinic before returning to Congress earlier this month. In a resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner today, Radel said that he couldn’t “fully and effectively serve” in the House and will resign at the end of the day.

Texas Land Commission candidate George P. Bush said Wednesday he supports controversial efforts by federal lawmakers to defund the Affordable Care Act.

“It’s a monstrosity of a law,” he said. “In terms of defunding it, that would be one way to reduce and mitigate the impact it’s going to have on practicing physicians and hospitals here in Texas.”

Bush was in Addison to deliver the keynote address at the Metrocrest Chamber of Commerce luncheon celebration the George Herbert Walker Bush Elementary School.

Before his speech, the Fort Worth Republican told me that he hoped Congress would be successful in stopping the implementation of the new health care law, which is commonly known as Obamacare.

Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, want Congress to approve a continuing resolution that funds government operations, but does not leave money for the Affordable Care Act. Such legislation would be vetoed by President Barack Obama, setting up a showdown that could result in a government shutdown.

Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said he backed Cruz’s efforts.

“I agree with this effort to defund it, or keep Texas out of the program unless we can modify it to a Texas-specific solution,” he said.

Bush is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for Texas land commissioner. He’s considered one of the party’s rising stars and is expected to cruise in next year’s election.

“We’re hearing only positive things,” Bush said. “We’re hearing that people are ready for the next generation to step forward and that’s really been my strongest message on the trail. It’s time for new leaders in Austin. For the office I’m seeking, a lot of people are excited about it.”

Bush said he would not endorse candidates in the numerous other GOP races up and down the ballot, including the Republican race for governor between Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and former Texas Republican Party Chairman Tom Pauken.

“I’ve got to focus on my race,” he said. “We’ve been asked by so many, and it’s flattering. The registered voters of this party are going to have some great choices.’

Bush says he doesn’t expect a major primary challenge, but is still running like he’s behind.

“Right now we’re working hard,” he said. “We’re working as if we do have an opponent and we’re 20 points down.”